Sometimes it’s really hard to figure out what is going on in the world. It’s not just that there’s so much news available or that the issues are complex but also that some news just doesn’t make sense once it passes through the multiple filters of reporters and editors who are often removed from that news by geography culture.
That’s where the Web site Global Voices Online comes in.
Located at http://globalvoicesonline.org, the site is an assemblage of hundreds of weblogs from around the world, written by people in the places where events are happening and then translated by more than 100 volunteers into a variety of languages to share those bloggers views and experiences with the world.
“Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard,” according to the site’s about page.
The site is a non-profit project founded by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society, as a result of a 2004 blogging conference where attendees promoted the idea of a global community to focus on under-represented countries in the news, according to the site’s frequently asked questions page. Global voices online also partners with major news outlets including Reuters to bring news coverage from under represented parts of the world to mainstream media.
The result for the reader is access to news and opinions from nations as diverse as Afghanistan to Zimbabwe with the benefit of insight that is unique to the people living and working in those places.
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